Road accidents will go up – Expert predicts

The Vice President of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, Dr Godfred Akyea-Darkwah, says he sees no end in sight to road accidents in the country.

“It is going up and it will still go up unless the right strategies are adopted.”

He says if governments – past and present – do not commit to implementing to the letter the Legislative Instrument 2180, the country will continue to mourn deaths on its roads.

Speaking on Midday Live on TV3 on Monday, March 25, Dr Akyea-Darkwah noted that there are three fundamental causes of road accidents: roads, vehicles and human errors.

“[Human error] is the key factor which contributes about 90 per cent [of the accidents].”

He urged government to invest in the education and sensitisation of drivers in order to staunch the trend.

“Driver attitude and behavior has it all [to do]. That is causing all the problem,” he insisted.

“But if we talk about attitude and behaviour and for that matter attributing it to the human behaviour, the [tool] that can address the ill attitudes and bad behaviour is through qualitative, pragmatic and progressive education and training.”

He cited how an organization once expressed desire to educate drivers “but we did not get them”, insinuating some of the drivers are not interested in training.

The discourse on road accidents was reignited last Friday, when about 60 persons lost their lives in two separate road accidents.

The National Road Safety Commission, NRSC, has indicated its desire to introduce speed limiters on commercial vehicles.

Dr Akyea-Darkwah said that will help to an extent but will not solve the issue.

He cited how a Yutong bus tried to overtake a minibus on a rainy day in the case of the Central Region accident, which claimed at least eight lives.

For him, an educated driver would have been a bit cautious in doing that.

He stopped short of blaming the NRSC and even the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) on the drivers churned out on the roads.

Dr Akyea-Darkwah said Sections 33, 43 and 125 are not adhered and that is as a result of the lack of support the likes of NRSC and DVLA get.